Current Australian PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit leader Andre Stolz is preparing to head back to Canberra to play in the ACT Seniors Championship at the Fairbairn Golf Club. Photo: Supplied.
Growing up in Canberra, Andre Stolz was typical of many kids of his generation. He played almost every sport possible with a passion.
At 14 years of age, though, golf emerged as his number one sports interest.
“We lived next door to the Yowani Club and I randomly went for a game. I started shooting some good scores, but I was erratic. It was then that I started to focus on golf.”
Four years later, he became a trainee professional at the Lakes Course in Sydney as part of a three-year apprenticeship.
This is about as simple as it gets in the golfing life of Andre Stolz.
It’s been a career punctuated by some incredible highs, including his 2004 victory on the US PGA Tour at the Michelin Championship in Las Vegas, the Australasian PGA Tour Championship at Royal Canberra in 2000 and the Token Homemate Cup in Japan in 2003. These are amongst his 11 professional wins.
In 2003 he reached a career-high world ranking of 53.
Andre Stolz has experienced a career of highs as well as some lows due to injury. Photo: Supplied.
It should have been the platform for long career; instead, it was the start of several low points as a wrist injury forced him into early retirement when he was just 34.
“I was away from the game for five years before coming back and playing in a mid-week competition where I was living on the Central Coast. I then played in a skins tournament on the Gold Coast with Peter Senior. I won every hole that day.”
Peter Senior pulled a few strings and in the blink of an eye, Andre was back on the tour with entries to the Australian Open, the Australian PGA and the Australian Masters.
There was further success before his wrist went again. He was struggling to hold a club, and he was back in retirement for the second time.
“I didn’t play for another five years, then my wife said to me, ‘You are talking about golf a lot lately’, so I looked at the seniors tour in Australia.”
Andre Stolz will be playing at Fairbairn Golf Club from 15 to 16 October in the ACT PGA Seniors Championship. Photo: Supplied.
The Legends Tour features many of the biggest names in Australian golf aged over 50 years, playing up to 80 events a year.
But to get back to his best and play pain free he had to rebuild his swing.
“I still credit this as my greatest achievement,” Andre explains.
“I changed my swing completely with a strong grip, short swing, no hand action. I am now a totally different golfer. I am way more consistent. It’s so much simpler now. I’m also now more efficient in practising.”
And it is paying off. Andre has won the past three Order of Merits and is on course to win for the 4th year in a row.
The Legends Tour is heading to Canberra with the Fairbairn Golf Club hosting the ACT PGA Seniors Championship (15-16 October).
It will bring the likes of Andre, Peter Senior, Mike Hardwood and Terry Price back to Canberra with eight of the current top 10 in this year’s Order of Merit playing at Fairbairn.
For Andre, the reason he continues to play is simple: “I just enjoy the competition.”
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